“The Last Judgment” by Karel Capek (Czechoslovakia)

            In the story “The Last Judgment,” it told a lot about the belief of their religious. They believe that if they did a lot of bad things in real life then when they passed away. They would go to hell because of the punishment they get from their action. God only needs good people to go to heaven and those bad people would be sent to hell. They would taste the hurt of what they did to people. Their belief was to do a lot of good things and be a perfect man or woman. For example, in the book, Kugler was a very bad guy, and he did a lot of bad things. He had killed nine people. The day he passed away, the judge in heaven sent him to hell because he was a bad person so he did not qualify to go to heaven.

            I think the consequences of living a bad life would affect your afterlife. You would not get to go to heaven but go to hell. God would judge you on your sins of your life. However, if you did a lot of good things without sins in your life now then your next life would get better. You would be rich or in a higher class who did not have to work hard every day like now. Good people would get good life and horrible people would get horrible life. Humans should be nice to each other because we are all the same. We are human, we are not animals. We should help each other and make the world a better place for the new generations.

By: Xiong Her

“First Confession” by Frank O’Connor (Ireland)

            In the story “First Confession,” I learned that they were taking the first confession very seriously and it was very important to the Catholic faith. They would tell everything that they did bad to the father. He would give them advices and helped them solve their problems. He would try to stop them from doing the wrong things over and over again. Furthermore, they believe that this would help them not going to hell. They would do good things to pay for the bad things they had done.

            I did not want to go to any church because I have my own belief and religion. My belief and religion are more important to me than any other religion and belief. I would not let go of my religion and belief. They are parts of my Hmong culture so I would have to believe in my own cultural belief and religion. I also honor other religion like Christian, but I would not go to their church because I have my own religion already. I would not be a trader or turn back on my culture because I am Hmong!

By: Xiong Her